Once there was a little old woman who
was baking a tray of lovely gingerbread aliens. After they cooled,
she piped icing onto each little alien, making sure that they had
three eyes and ten limbs and rainbow freckles. Just as she finished
the last freckle on the last alien, the whole tray of cookies sat up,
jumped out of the pan, and slid down the legs of the table.
The little old woman stood up so
quickly that her chair fell down behind her with a thud.
Unfortunately, the aliens were already at the front door. They
slipped through the mail slot one by one before she could catch them.
She threw open the front door and ran
down the first three steps in her slippers. The gingerbread aliens
had all disappeared. “Come back,” she called to her empty front
yard. “I need you for the bake sale. The choir needs new robes.”
But the gingerbread aliens did not
come back. They hid under the rose bush until she went back inside.
Then they crept around the edge of the yard and through the picket
fence. The first alien frosted was the oldest of the group, so he
was in charge and led the way.
They passed a yard with a wire fence.
Behind the fence, a big black dog barked loudly. “Come here,
little cookies,” he said. “I am hungry, and I think it’s been a
million years since I last ate.”
“What good would that do us?” the
oldest alien asked.
“What else are cookies good for?”
The gingerbread aliens all scowled
with all three of their eyes. The dog took a step back. The aliens
kept walking. “We are not here for bake sales or feeding dogs,”
the oldest cookie said as they left.
“Then why are you here?” the dog
asked. But the gingerbread aliens were all gone. “Come back,”
he called. “I’m so hungry. Come back!”
But the aliens did not come back.
They kept walking.
The oldest alien led them to a stream.
A fox was sunning himself on the bank. He stood up as they arrived.
“Do you need a ride across the stream? I could carry you on my
back.”
The gingerbread aliens conferred in a
murmur. “What is the cost?” the oldest cookie asked at last.
The fox smiled, showing off his sharp
teeth. “I would only eat a few of you. Maybe five or six.”
“No.” The cookies turned and
started walking alongside the stream.
“What else are cookies good for?”
the fox called after them. But the gingerbread aliens were gone.
The fox laid back down with a huff and fell asleep.
The cookies eventually reached a
bridge. At this point, their many feet were crumbly and their icing
was sticky. “Just a little further,” the oldest said.
But, as they reached a bridge, out
jumped a troll. “Anyone who crosses my bridge must pay a toll,”
he said.
“We won’t allow you to eat any of
us,” the oldest gingerbread alien said. All the cookies glared
fiercely.
“Trolls don’t eat sugar. That’s
poison to us. I want gold or meat.”
The oldest cookie pointed further down
the bank in the opposite direction. “Like that?”
The troll turned. He squinted. “Like
what?” But when he turned back around, the gingerbread aliens were
gone. “Come back. You didn’t pay the toll,” he bellowed. But
the cookies did not come back.
They were already across the bridge
and walking through the meadow on the other side. They darted
towards a metal lump leaning against the fence on the far side of the
meadow. It looked a bit like two large cake pans stuck together.
As the cookies approached the lumpy
metal thing, they disappeared one by one, oldest to youngest. And
then the lumpy metal thing rose in the air and disappeared.
Two doughnuts were inside already and began passing around paperwork. “How did it go? Did everyone make it back?”
The oldest gingerbread alien sighed.
“Yes, but I would recommend scrapping the randomizer. It’s far too
risky. I don’t think the camouflage potential is worth the risk.
How long until this wears off?”
“Tomorrow somebody is going to have
a batch of cookies back. And two doughnuts.”
The gingerbread alien sighed. “Well, maybe she’ll have something for her bake sale after all. I’m just glad it won’t be us. Cookies lead a hard life. Everyone wants to eat them.”
“Sure,” the doughnut said. “What else are cookies good for?”
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